The invention relates primarily to a ball-and-socket joint of the type having a ball head, which can be fastened to a ball head support and a ball socket body, for receiving the ball head in a rotatable manner and which has an exterior surface and a receiving channel. The receiving channel has longitudinal axis, an insertion opening for receiving the ball head, an interior circumference surface for the ball head to rest on, an interior end support as the insertion boundary for the ball head and securing elements which secure the ball head against being pulled out of the receiving channel.
Such a ball-and-socket joint is known, for example, from German Patent DE-PS 29 42 800. In this known ball-and-socket joint, the ball socket body is closed on the back of its exterior surface remote from the insertion opening. A C-shaped securing spring extends across the back area in a longitudinal sectional plane of the ball socket body containing the axis of the receiving channel and its free end sections enter through lateral slits in the ball socket body. Customarily, assembly takes place by first fastening the ball head on a generic structure, for example, on the body or a trunk lid of a motor vehicle, and then locking the ball socket body (as a part of a gas spring) on the ball head. For this purpose the C-shaped securing spring is placed in a secured position on the ball socket body prior to the connection of the ball socket body to the gas spring. The subsequent connection of the ball socket body with the ball head pre-assembled on the generic structure then takes place by pushing ball socket body onto the ball head so that the end sections of the C-shaped securing spring are urged by the ball head back out of the lateral slits in the ball socket until the end sections of the C-shaped securing spring snap back into the receiving channel and grip the ball from behind. In this way, the C-shaped spring secures the ball socket body against lifting off the ball head.
The assembly of a ball-and-socket joint itself and the application of the ball-and-socket joint to parts of a generic structure must take place in as ergonomically simple a manner as possible, in particular during assembly line production, to minimize lost time and assembly costs. The simplest, and thus the fastest, manner of assembling the ball-and-socket joint and application of the ball-and-socket joint to the parts of a generic structure is decisively determined by the spatial and access conditions at the generic structure. The assembly situations can be very different from one type of structure to the next.
It has now been determined that under certain assembly conditions installation can be made considerably easier if the ball head is fastened to the ball head support (generic structure) after the ball head has already been received in the working position in the ball socket body. In this case, it is possible to utilize the ball socket body or a structural part already connected with the ball socket body, for example the cylinder or the piston rod of a gas spring, as a support means, so to speak, for bringing the ball head attached thereto into the fastening position in relation to the ball head support.
In addition, although the ball-and-socket joint disclosed in German Patent DE-PS 29 42 800 has proven itself in a very large number of applications, certain problems, in particular corrosion problems, have occurred because the C-shaped securing spring (made of spring steel) cannot be produced at all or only at unwarranted cost to be sufficiently corrosion-proof so that corrosion effects are eliminated over extended operational times and in corrosion-sensitive atmospheres. Added to this is that with the known embodiment in accordance with German Patent DE-PS 29 42 800, the application of the C-shaped securing spring to the ball socket support is relatively difficult and in particular can only be realized by means of a large force.